Roar of the Dragon
by Dragonfly-Moonlight
Summary: They had been selected. For what, they had yet to learn.


Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation.

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He could not refrain from groaning. His head pounded in a steady rhythm that reminded him of a drum . . . or was it more akin to that of a driving bass beat coming from a subwoofer? Or perhaps even a long, slender needle sliding in and out of his brain . . . no matter way he thought of it, his head hurt and it hurt in the worst possible way. He just could not recollect on how his head had started to hurt so bad or why, even.

As he thought of his head and how it hurt – it was the only thing he could truly focus on – Tohma felt slender fingers sliding across his shoulders. They grasped a hold of him, and he was of them to swat them away. Gently, yet frantically, they started to shake him as a familiar voice broke the pain.

"Seguchi-san, wake up," the voice urged. For a moment, Tohma could not place who the voice belonged to, despite its familiarity. He also wondered at the urgency he heard in the singer's voice. What could be so important that he needed to wake? Why was he asleep in the first place?

"Please, Seguchi-san, you've got to wake up!"

Then the pain began to dissipate, and Tohma finally pinpointed on how he knew the voice speaking to him. It belonged to Shuichi Shindou, and Tohma found it odd. The last person he recalled speaking with K. His eyes opened immediately and sat forward, only to find the room spinning like an insane teacup ride. To his dismay, he saw three to four Shuichis instead of only one, and he desired nothing more than to close his eyes once again. Tohma averted his gaze to the nearest wall, hoping to cease the spinning and the multiple Shuichis.

As he turned his head, Tohma noticed he was not in a room, but rather a large cavern, and he lifted his head. The ceiling hung far above their heads, as if a great beast or a giant took residency in the place, but it was surprisingly well lit. Large stones that reminded Tohma of well-polished diamonds glowed a soft yellow. Red veins like rubies graced the ceiling, glinting in the light of the yellow diamonds, and they created intricate designs of great serpents with wings.

His gaze traveled from the ceiling to the walls. They, too, bore intricate designs, though not all were dragons. Some were of flowers and other mystical creatures. Tohma thought he recognized at least one design as that of a unicorn but the others, they bore no name. They were exquisite nonetheless, and he found himself wanting to relay these images to Eiri, who undoubtedly could not only name them, but also write such magnificent tales about them. Amazed and astounded, his attention returned to Shuichi Shindou who, blissfully, was not staring at him in stereo. The sight of the singer proved yet another surprise for Tohma.

For one, Shuichi wore a violet silk haori with no buttons and loose-flowing sleeves and hakama of the same material and colour. The sleeves were adorned with a gold leaf and sakura blossom embroidery. Upon the singer's shoulders rested a small creature, something only believed to exist in fairytales and the workings of fantasy authors. _It _was a dragon, no larger than a cat, and its eyes were closed. Tohma found himself blinking at this visage. He normally saw the singer in jeans and a t-shirt, and he tilted his head at this unusual dream vision before him (for what else could it be?) for the singer actually looked . . . gorgeous.

He reached over to touch Shuichi, to be sure he was not dreaming, when he noticed his hands were touching upon velvet. The material slid like silk under his fingers, and he glanced down to see they were both resting upon an overly large (more like a mattress for a bed) pillow. He also noticed he, too, wore an outfit similar to Shuichi's, only his haori and hakama were a dark green with a silver embroidery. His hair felt wet, as if someone had recently cleaned it for him, and a small creature, undoubtedly a similar one to the one perched around Shuichi's neck, rested on his shoulders.

"What . . .?"

"I don't know," Shuichi said, his tone considerably calmer at this point. He even appeared relieved to see Tohma awake. "The last thing I remember was waving good-bye to Hiro and leaving the studio. When I woke up, I was being scrubbed down by some scaly creature. So were you, actually."

"Oh . . ." Tohma found this information to be perplexing, and he realized he had been hoping Shuichi could give him a little more than what the singer had divulged. "What happened to our original clothing?"

"Don't know," Shuichi said, shrugging. "I know one of those creatures took off with them, but he moved so fast, I'm not even sure where he went. You know, you have a small dragon on your shoulders, Seguchi-san?"

"As do you, Shindou-san," Tohma replied. He refrained from sighing. "This is most unusual."

"Yes," a voice commented. It was low in sound, almost like distant thunder, yet Tohma detected kindness within the speaker. Hell, the speaker even sounded as if it were fond! "It is most unusual but certainly not unprecedented. I am glad to see you are awake now, Tohma Seguchi. For a moment, I feared we may have taken too extreme of a measure to bring the two of you here. Now I see my fears were unfounded. That is good. That is very good indeed."

The two dragons wrapped around his and Shuichi's shoulders stirred at the sound of the voice, and they raised their heads, chirruping a response. At the same time, both he and Shuichi glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of their mysterious captor. The voice like distant thunder chuckled.

"You wish to see me?" the voice said. "I cannot say I blame you. The two of you are most uncommon in the realm of humans. Both of you are curious and capable of great feats, if given the right means. Perhaps that is why you answered my call."

Just as Tohma was about to ask who their mysterious captor was, a shadow fell over the room. A large dragon walked through an entryway Tohma had not seen right away, and the musician felt his mouth go dry.

The dragon itself was _massive_, nearly filling the entire chamber. It resembled nothing like the dragons Tohma saw in the festival parades throughout Tokyo but more akin to dragons of American and European lore. Long horns of silver curved around its head, its snout was slender, and its wings curled around its backs. It was also not lost on Tohma the dragon was of the same colours he and Shuichi wore. Did that make them servants or slaves to this creature? Tohma was not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer to his question.

"Yes," the dragon said. Tohma caught a faint hint of a smile on the creature's face. "You two, you will do quite nicely. I should have seen it sooner."

"Do?" Shuichi echoed. "What will we do for? What are you talking about?"

The dragon regarded them for a moment, its eyes (they looked like black fires to Tohma) gazing intently at them. Then it nodded, as if it had asked itself a question and received an answer.

"The world as you know it is changing, singer," the dragon replied. "Not all of these changes will be good. They will be terrible and tragic. Most of your kind will not survive the storm that is brewing."

"Is that why you brought us here?" Tohma asked. He did not like the sound of this, not when there were a few he still cared about possibly in danger. "To save us?"

"If you wish to see it as saving, I suppose then perhaps that is why," the dragon rumbled. "Most of the humans who have answered the call normally do not see it so. Of course, the times are different now than when I was last around your kind. Most saw it as an honour to be here. However, I will let you decide in your way."

"Why are we here?" Tohma inquired. A sinking feeling had settled into the pit of his stomach. Somehow, this could not be good. Not if this creature's cryptic words about a storm brewing were true. The dragon tilted its heads.

"You are among the few," the dragon started, "who will be able to fight at our sides. You possess powers, powers that have not been utilized since the last great Dragon Storm. In time, they will come to you, but not before it is too late. There will be others like you, I am sure, but there will not be many. Because of that, it will be the last time this battle is fought. There will be none to remain to answer our call."


End file.
